The smell of barbecue and the promise of cupcakes is luring the downtown Denver lunch crowd to Civic Center today for the 2012 kickoff of the Civic Center EATS Outdoor Café.

Thirty gourmet food trucks and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock will be on hand for the lunch launch that will continue through the summer on most Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. A smaller-scale Civic Center Hump Day Café will hold down the area most Wednesdays.

This is the seventh year for the pop-up food court that was started to help the revitalization efforts of Civic Center by the nonprofit Civic Center Conservancy. The first four years of the event offered more of a farmers market, but for the past three years it has turned into a place for downtown workers and tourists to enjoy lunch.

“We like to say it’s a showcase of Denver’s cultural and entrepreneurial diversity,” said Civic Center Conservancy executive director Lindy Eichenbaum Lent. “It’s one of those things that makes Denver quintessentially Denver.”

Hancock appeared at the kickoff Civic Center EATS last year as a mayoral candidate on Election Day. He will make an appearance — and have lunch — this year along with Eichenbaum Lent and Denver Parks and Recreation Manager Lauri Dannemiller.

But as usual, the mobile dining options will eventually drive on.

Downtown diners have until Sept. 27 to feast from the more than 40 food trucks serving one or all three of the EATS days, include Little India, Max Lunch, Vegan Van and many more.

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